The November 1947 issue of The Polled Hereford Magazine published this image of two bull calves loading onto a Mount McKinley Airways plane for shipment from Centralia, Washington, to Palmer, Alaska. The caption read, "Denoting the progress of the Polled Hereford breed, this picture represents several possible ‘firsts' -- first air shipment of Polled Herefords out of the Western United States, first movement of cattle to Alaska by air, first shipment of purebred cattle of any kind to that northern country." Pictured were, from left, Cecil L. Mattox, herdsman at the Whiteface Ranch; George J. Galvin; and his son, Knight Galvin. The animals are TWR Jim Domino, left, and TWR Buster Domino.
Polled Herefords are naturally hornless, or "polled," and provide plenty of beef, characteristics of a breed developed by Warren Gammon of Des Moines, Iowa. Gammon initially was inspired in 1898 after viewing some hornless cattle on exhibit at the Trans-Mississippi World Fair in Omaha, Nebraska.
The horned breed was founded in Hereford County, England, and while 18th-century farmers noted that certain animals did not develop horns, it was considered a favorable mutation. Gammon, developer of the Polled Hereford, went on to form the American Polled Hereford Cattle Club in the early 1900s. The first registry was founded in 1901, and since then the Polled Hereford registry has joined with the American Hereford Association.
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| Polled Herefords en route to Alaska, October 17, 1947 |
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